Mehdi's Morning Memo: 'Speak English Or Lose Benefits'

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 01: Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, delivers his speech in the Main Hall of Manchester Central on the third day, and penultimate day, of the Conservative Party Conference on October 1, 2013 in Manchester, England. David Cameron has unveiled a Government pilot scheme for GP surgeries to open from 8am until 8pm seven days, backed by 50 million GBP of funding. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

The five things you need to know on Friday 13 December 2013...

1) SPEAK ENGLISH OR LOSE BENEFITS

This government enjoys nothing more than cracking down on either benefit claimants or migrants - so imagine an issue which allows you to do both. It would have the relevant minister doing cartwheels, right? Especially if that minister is Iain Duncan Smith.

'Speak English or lose benefits,' says the splash headline on the front of the Telegraph, which explains:

"Migrants whose English is judged to be so poor that they would struggle to find work in Britain could be denied benefits, Iain Duncan Smith has announced.

"The Work and Pensions Secretary said the Government was overhauling the test that enables migrants to claim benefits to prevent them from taking advantage of the welfare system.. However, the change is likely to bring Britain into further conflict with the European Commission, which is already suing Britain for requiring European Union immigrants to pass a test it claims is unlawful before they can claim benefits.

"Mr Duncan Smith said that the move was both legal and necessary to protect Britain from 'benefit tourists'."

The problem is that there aren't many 'benefit tourists' around, as most independent studies and reports reveal. Also, as an EU diplomat tells the paper, IDS will need some "good lawyers": "It seems the Government wants to step up the fight. I hope Mr Duncan Smith has good lawyers or Britain could be paying some big fines. Discriminating against people on the basis of language would be illegal."

"Controversial plans for a highspeed rail link between London, Manchester and Leeds must go ahead to meet future passenger and freight demands and help economic growth, according to an influential group of MPs.

"The Parliamentary Transport Select Committee has given the Government's contentious HS2 project a vital vote of confidence but has also urged that construction works on the northern part of the scheme start earlier than planned.

"The committee, led by Louise Ellman, a Labour MP, said the company in charge of delivering HS2 should 'look seriously' at building from the north downwards, at the same time as construction work starts in London."

BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR...

Watch this video of a kid impersonating Elvis Presley. It will make your day.

"A fresh attack on Britain's welfare budget was announced by George Osborne as he told MPs he would prefer to cut benefits than slash the size of the state to its smallest since the 1940s.

"In a calculated challenge to Labour in the runup to the next election, the chancellor said many more billions would need to be shaved from welfare to avoid deeper cuts in spending by Whitehall departments.

"'Welfare spending can't be excluded from the difficult decisions,' the chancellor told a hearing of the Treasury select committee into last week's autumn statement."

The vast majority of the welfare budget goes on pensioners, off course, not the unemployed, yet the PM and the chancellor have indicated that pensioners would be exempt from any benefits cap. So why the obsession with cutting more and more benefits from the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society?

In March 2007, retired FBI agent Robert Levinson flew to Kish Island, an Iranian resort awash with tourists, smugglers and organized crime figures. Days later, after an arranged meeting with an admitted killer, he checked out of his hotel, slipped into a taxi and vanished. For years, the U.S. has publicly described him as a private citizen who traveled to the tiny Persian Gulf island on private business.

But that was just a cover story. An Associated Press investigation reveals that Levinson was working for the CIA. In an extraordinary breach of the most basic CIA rules, a team of analysts — with no authority to run spy operations — paid Levinson to gather intelligence from some of the world's darkest corners. He vanished while investigating the Iranian government for the U.S.

"It is of regret when people in public office comment about a person who is involved in a trial which is in progress" - the judge hearing the trial of two former personal assistants to Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi slaps down the prime minister for making positive comments about Lawson in a Spectator interview.

PUBLIC OPINION WATCH

From the Sun/YouGov poll:

Labour 39

Conservatives 35

Ukip 11

Lib Dems 9

That would give Labour a majority of 46.

140 CHARACTERS OR LESS

@timloughton Tomorrow I can be found around the constituency wearing a Santa suit in aid of @StBarnabasHouse go to work as a Santa day

@JeromeTaylor The seemingly arbitrary execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle is only what thousands of his own people suffer every year.

900 WORDS OR MORE

Gavin Kelly, writing in the Guardian, says: "Stealth cuts are making universal credit toxic to the working poor."

Fraser Nelson, writing in the Telegraph, says: "The truth about the NHS is a bitter pill."

F.W. De Klerk, writing in the Times, says: "Why Mandela owed a huge debt to Thatcher."

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